SHANE WARNE teased the crowd before delivering both his 700th victim and another stunning display to underline his massive contribution to Australia's world dominance over the last decade.

Nearly every member of the 89,155 Boxing Day crowd at the MCG arrived in anticipation of the 37-year-old leg-spinner becoming the first cricketer in history to claim 700 Test victims.

In typically theatrical style, Warne took only 20 deliveries before bowling Andrew Strauss through the gate and went on to claim five for 39 as England collapsed to 159 all out after winning the toss and deciding to bat.

Australia's openers replied aggressively and by close of a rain-hit opening day, they had reached 48 for two to trail by 111 runs and had established a dominant position.

But, even with only two matches remaining of his glittering Test career, Warne once again was the most influential player on the pitch and held England's batsmen in a trance on a first-day wicket which should really have suited the seamers.

Such were the seamer-friendly conditions, Warne was kept out of the attack until the 42nd over - although he had teased the crowd by taking off his sun hat several overs earlier before passing the ball onto all-rounder Andrew Symonds - with England having progressed to 82 for two.

By the time he had finished with his unbroken 17.2-over spell, the tourists had collapsed from a promising position to yet another under-par total after losing their last eight wickets for only 58 runs.

"As it turned out, whoever writes my scripts is doing an unbelievable job," said Warne. "I've just been sitting there since we started batting just shaking my head - I can't believe it happened to be honest. It was a pretty amazing day.

"How it's all panned out to retire and then have two games left and come to Melbourne on 699 wickets with the Ashes already in the bag, is amazing.

"I thought the quickies bowled really well today, but then to come on when I did and knock over Strauss and then we cleaned the rest up was something else.

"There are some special things that happen in your life and there are some special days in your life and that's definitely one of them. The birth of your children, getting married, playing in your first Test are all pretty special, but that one today, from an individual point of view, has got to be one of the best days I've ever had."

As if his control over the day's events was not impressive enough, Warne even felt confident enough to predict the mode of dismissal for that treasured 700th victim.

Strauss had battled to his first half-century of the series and forged an important 57-run partnership with Paul Collingwood which threatened to guide England towards a competitive first innings total.

But Collingwood edged Brett Lee to second slip with a delivery when he was surprised by some extra bounce and then Warne was asked by Glenn McGrath at mid-off how he planned to remove the stubborn Strauss.

Two balls later, Strauss has been tempted into driving a full-length delivery and the leg-break turned through the gap between bat and pad and crashed into his stumps.

"At the start of that over McGrath asked me how I was going to get him out and I told him I was going to bowl him through the gate sweeping," said Warne.

"In that over I bowled him through the gate, only he was driving and not sweeping - when that sort of stuff happens you know something is going right for you."

Once Strauss fell and seamer Stuart Clark ended Andrew Flintoff's scratchy innings when he edged low to slip and caught at slip - inevitably by Warne - England's innings became only a question of how many runs Kevin Pietersen could help add with the tail.

Unable to hit boundaries because of the slow outfield and Australia's accurate bowling from both ends, Pietersen became as frustrated as England's tail became bewitched in Warne's spell and he wrapped up four of the last five wickets.

Chris Read, restored to the side after Geraint Jones was dropped for his failure to score runs, contributed just three before driving Warne to short extra cover while Steve Harmison and Pietersen were caught in the deep attempting big drives.

Last man Monty Panesar fell in almost identical fashion to earn Warne his 37th five-wicket haul, but only his third at his home ground, and he was given a standing ovation at the end.

Despite giving England hope with two wickets in successive balls, Australia ended the day well on top.